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Chart courtesy of Barchart.com

Because of this correction in Apple, I now became convinced that the portfolio would now be on the losing end of things, but low and behold that would not be the case. So here are the results going into May 6th, 2013:

Portfolio Total Return With Dividends Reinvested: 34.6%

S&P 500 (SPY) With Dividends Reinvested: 32.9%

MasterCard (MA): Price: $553.55, Total Return of 60.1%

Under Armour (UA): Price: $57.71, Total Return of 36.7%

Google (GOOG): Price: $845.72, Total Return of 42.7%

Apple (AAPL): Price: $449.98, Total Return of 12.8%

Amazon (AMZN): Price: $258.05, Total Return of 20.9%

Stats courtesy of Low-Risk Investing

So there you have it, the Five Greats managed to continue to beat the S&P 500. Going forward. I think that the correction in Apple is probably done, but it now may be a company that is no longer in its growth phase, this is a bit concerning and something that I did not see coming this fast, but on a good note the company is committed to increasing their dividends as well as buybacks, this should allow the stock to at the least match the performance of the S&P 500. Once again, even after some corrections, I am still convinced that for the next 3+ years this portfolio should outperform the S&P 500.

Disclaimer: All articles are written as an opinion of the writer or writers. The contributors on this website are not professional investment advisors. These articles are written to share investing ideas that may be of interest to the reader. Always seek the advice of a professional investment advisor before investing.

Disclosure: I am long [[GOOG]], [[UA]], [[MA]].

This month I figured I would wait for all earnings releases to come out for The Five Greatest Stocks portfolio. Since my last post in September, this portfolio has had a tough battle to stay ahead of the S&P 500. Though it was a close battle, the portfolio continues to outperform the Index. Dates cover November 2011 to January 31, 2013. All returns include dividends reinvested unless otherwise noted.

Portfolio total return with dividends reinvested: 27.5%

S&P 500 (SPY) with dividends reinvested: 24%

Under Armour (UA): Price: $50.50, Total Return of 19.6%.

Google (GOOG): Price: $775.60, Total Return of 30.9%.

MasterCard (MA): Price: $518.71, Total Return of 49.8%.

Apple (AAPL): Price: $453.62, Total Returns of 13.1%.

Amazon (AMZN): Price: $265, Total Return of 24.1%.

This was truly a trying time for the five greats, Under Armour and Apple had some serious breakdowns during this period. Apple is especially beginning to worry me, this company may be growing its earnings and revenues slower than I had expected. I will continue to monitor it, but I believe the worst is over for the stock. Going forward, Google and MasterCard have been star performers and the "overvalued" Amazon continues to amaze.

Disclaimer: All articles are written as an opinion of the writer or writers. The contributors on this website are not professional investment advisors. These articles are written to share investing ideas that may be of interest to the reader. Always seek the advice of a professional investment advisor before investing.

Disclosure: I am long [[UA]], [[MA]], [[AAPL]].

Though I am known as recommending individual stocks as investments, I have been asked by my family, friends, and readers which mutual fund I would recommend for people who simply are too afraid to invest in individual securities and after studying plenty of different mutual funds, I think I have a good candidate. When I first began this journey, I had to get my "growth stock" way of thinking out of my mind, I mean I was trying to find an investment vehicle that even my sister (if you knew her you would understand) would not get nervous about. I also needed it to be highly rated by Morningstar, low in cost, and performance comparable to the S&P 500 over a long period of time. The fund that I have chosen is the Wellesley Income Fund (VWINX) from Vanguard.

The Fund Profile

According to Vanguard, The Wellesley Income fund has been around for 40 years and is considered a conservative balanced fund that typically invest in both stocks and investment-grade bonds. The fund is unique in its allocation: one-third to stocks and two-thirds to bonds. The fund is a no-load fund with a yield of around 2.3%. and an expense ratio of .25%. The Wellesley Income Fund also has a five-star rating from Morningstar.

The Performance

The Wellesley Income fund has had a total return of over 35% (dividends reinvested) over the last 5 years, this easily surpassed the total return of the S&P 500 of about 6% (dividends reinvested). The fund also managed to accomplish this with less volatility than the Index. I have also attached a chart showing the monthly percentage change over the last ten years (dividends reinvested) comparing The Wellesley Income Fund (VWINX) to both the S&P 500 (SPY) and the bellwether Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). The total return of The Wellesley Income Fund over the last ten years is around 96% with dividends reinvested which is slightly higher than the S&P 500 which returned about 93% and trumps the return of 70% for Johnson & Johnson. Statistics and descriptions form various sources including Yahoo!, MSN, Low-Risk Investing and Stock Rover.

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Chart Courtesy of Barchart

Conclusion

It is rare to find mutual funds that can consistently beat the major market indexes, but to find a conservative balanced fund that can manage to do it is nothing short of a miracle in my opinion. The Wellesley Income Fund from Vanguard is the one fund that I can now recommend to long-term investors both new and old, with its low costs, market beating performance, and minimal volatility; it is truly a fund for everyone.

Disclaimer: All articles are written as an opinion of the writer or writers. The contributors on this website are not professional investment advisors. These articles are written to share investing ideas that may be of interest to the reader. Always seek the advice of a professional investment advisor before investing.

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Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

Portfolio Total return with dividends reinvested: 31.9%

S&P 500 with dividends reinvested: 15%

UA: Price: $55.83, Total Return: 36.09%.

GOOG: Price: $754.50, Total Return: 30.39%.

MA: Price: $451.58, Total Return: 35.05%.

AAPL: Price: $667.10, Total Return: 68.24%.

AMZN: Price: $254.32, Total Return: 19.90%.

As you can see, the portfolio has performed rather well against the S&P 500. I continue to believe that these five stocks will continue to beat the overall market going forward, but would recommend each investor to monitor these companies and encourage them to take profits if need be. I have added a link here to see a chart of the stocks compared to the S&P 500. Performance numbers courtesy of Low-Risk Investing.

Disclaimer: All articles are written as an opinion of the writer or writers. The contributors on this website are not professional investment advisors. These articles are written to share investing ideas that may be of interest to the reader. Always seek the advice of a professional investment advisor before investing.

Disclosure: I am long [[AAPL]], [[GOOG]], [[UA]], [[MA]].

I would start by telling young workers that although their first job might not be what they consider a career, it is a job and they should treat it as though it is a career. What? Does that even make sense? Yes it does make sense and the reason is that this job may be the only employment you get during this tough job market, so one piece of advice is to think of it as a career and put your best efforts towards improving your relationship with your employer and fellow employees. Always remember that your bosses and co-workers may be your best tools to your next great career.

These days almost every company or corporation has some sort of retirement plan, such as a 401K or pension plan. So, another piece of advice I can give is to join these plans, even if you make only $100 a week. Sign up as soon as you are eligible, contribute and begin your path towards saving and investing. What if your first job is a small business that doesn't offer any retirement plan? In this case you must fund an IRA and set up an account yourself. I have some good links that can lead you to information and tools HERE. Always remember when you move to another employer you can rollover funds that are in these plans to a rollover IRA. In the beginning it will seem that your balance is small, but over time with consistent contributions the power of compounding will work aggressively for you.

We tend to spend our paychecks as soon as we get paid; well it is time to switch that thinking around by paying ourselves first. One of the best advices I was taught was to pay myself first. Another good suggestion that I can give is to have two accounts: A checking account for everyday bills and a savings account to use to pay yourself first.

I know that when I was in college, credit card solicitations were all around me. I of course did apply for a credit card, but I put a limit on how high the credit card company wanted to make my credit limit. To this day, I really only use one credit card and continue to make debt my enemy. My advice to you is to control your debt, believe me it can haunt you for many years. As a matter of fact if you can live the debt-free life you would certainly be ahead of many of your peers.

In conclusion, I hope that these several pieces of advice will motivate young college grads to strive to be financially fit. I also recommend many books to keep you focused on finances and life in general HERE and HERE and always encourage all workers young and old to read and learn!

Do you like the advice? Let me know-comments are always appreciated.

So you found a great stock with an unbelievable chart and impressive earnings and revenue growth, but is this enough to sustain long-term returns in the stock? I think the next step that we all take as investors is to recognize if the company behind this great stock has a great brand and moat.

According to Wikipedia, a brand is a "name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers." Good example of strong brands would be Pepsi-Cola which belongs to PepsiCo (PEP) or Arm and Hammer baking soda which belongs to Church and Dwight (CHD). These two brands that I have just mentioned happen to be strong brand names, but do their companies have a moat because of their brands?

We begin by defining what exactly a "Moat", according to Investopedia, an "Economic Moat" is a "competitive advantage that one company has over other companies in the same industry." Good examples of strong moats, in my opinion a harder to come by these days. Gone are the days when true moats such as AT&T (before the break up) are gone, but there are many companies today which are close to having some serious barriers to entry like Microsoft (MSFT) through its software that includes Office and Windows and then you also have Apple (AAPL) through its closed network using hardware like iPhones and software like iTunes. These are great companies with strong brands and moats, but it does not necessarily equal great returns, this is why investors must learn to first find great charts, earnings and revenue growth first and then they can top it off by confirming whether or not the company has a strong brand or moat.

Some of the stocks that I am long that have strong brands and moats are Apple (AAPL), MasterCard (MA), PepsiCo (PEP), and Starbucks (SBUX). I have attached a chart courtesy of Yahoo! Finance comparing these four stocks to the S&P 500. All four companies have appreciated better than S&P 500 the last five years and this is without dividends reinvested.

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Disclosure: I am long [[AAPL]], [[CHD]], [[PEP]], [[SBUX]], [[MA]].